Dangerous_Minds writes: Earlier, Slashdot posted a story where RIANZ convicted its first file-sharer under the New Zealand three strikes law. While the fine totaled $616.57, a New Zealand Herald report points out that in order to get that fine, RIANZ had to spend $250,000. Freezenet makes an interesting point that HADOPI (France's version of the three strikes law) faced similar problems when the Socialist party commented that 12 million euros was a lot of money to pay 60 agents to send out 1 million e-mails. In making this connection, the question raised is whether or not this money pit trend will continue when the Copyright Alert System (CAS) starts processing strike notices in the United States.